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The Importance of Medical Terminology

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The Importance of Medical Terminology
Francine Harrilal
HCS/120
May 9th, 2016
Ms. Tammy Williams

The Importance of Medical Terminology
What is the importance of medical terminology? Coming from the Greek and Latin origin, medical terms have been used by Greek and Roman physicians from long ago. The majority of the words are still used in today's society. Medical terminology is made up of combining forms, suffixes and prefixes. Once you learn the combining form (the foundation of a word), the suffix (the word ending), and the prefix (optional word beginning), you will be able to decipher complex information to understand a patient’s condition and diagnose them (Stanfield, Cross, and Hui, 2012). For example, if a patient were complaining of pain on the lower right side of the abdomen, maybe you would diagnose him/her with appendicitis. If the infection is severe, it might be to the point of having to have an appendectomy; the surgical removal of the appendix. Without knowing the suffix meaning of –itis (infection of) and the meaning of -ectomy (the surgical removal of), then you wouldn’t have been able to diagnose or treat the patient (Stanfield, Cross, and Hui, 2012). Medical terminology goes way beyond just diagnosing and treating in the health care field, it is essential in this industry. Everything that is done in the health care field is based on the knowledge of medical terminology. Communication within the field will consist of using this language in every different aspect imaginable. Knowing and understanding medical terminology can prevent mistakes from happening in the workplace. Mistakes such as, billing for the right provider, administering the correct medicine or the right dosage of medicine given to a patient, labeling a file, and diagnosing efficiently, to avoid a situation like that, medical terminology is a must know.
A patient’s records

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